The present invention relates to sewing accessories, and more particularly to a quilting clamp that securely holds multiple layers of material for machine quilting and allows for easy manipulation thereof.
Machine quilting typically requires the user to hold multiple layers of quilting materials, such as fabric and batting, firmly together while stitching the desired quilt pattern. Holding the multiple layers of quilting materials together while machine quilting may be difficult in some circumstances, such as when the user has only an inch or so of quilting material to grasp, or when the user suffers from hand or wrist disabilities such as arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome.
While numerous large-scale quilting apparatuses have been proposed for machine quilting use in manufacturing environments (e.g., in a factory), there has been a long felt need for portable machine quilting aids that can be easily used by individual quilters, such as in a residential setting. In particular, there has been a long felt need for a portable hand-operated quilting clamp capable of holding multiple layers of quilting material firmly together, thereby freeing the quilter to concentrate on other quilting tasks, such as forming the stitching pattern. Further, because it can be difficult to manipulate the multiple quilting material layers in the desired pattern when there is only an edge to grasp, there has been a need for a quilting clamp that can be easily grasped by the quilter so as to allow the user to easily move the multiple layers of quilt material in the desired quilt pattern.
The present invention provides a portable, hand-operated quilting clamp capable of holding multiple layers of quilting material firmly together while being easily grasped by the user so as to allow easily directed movement of the combined layers of quilt material in the desired quilt pattern.
A manually openable clamp body comprises top and bottom portions hingedly connected together and moveable between a clamping position and an open position. At least one spring is connected to the clamp body and biases the clamp top portion towards the clamp bottom portion so that the quilting clamp is operable to grip fabric when in the clamping position. A fabric receiving gap is defined between the top and bottom portions in the open position. The clamp top portion has a handle extending away therefrom to aid in both opening the quilting clamp and gripping the quilting clamp by the user. With the clamp bottom portion supported from underneath, pressing on the handle urges the clamp top portion towards the open position.
The quilting clamp may advantageously include cushion material, such as felt, on all or part of the bottom side of the bottom portion so as to help reduce the risk of scratching any worksurfaces while preserving easy of movement. In addition, the quilting clamp main body may have a width of at least two inches, but advantageously not more than about four inches.